"
Skip to Content
Version 1.1 – Updated August 2021

Note-taking

Overview

  • Influence: Note-taking
  • Domain: Student Learning Strategies
  • Sub-Domain: Learning strategies
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Potential to accelerate
  • Influence Definition: This involves students making notes in a systematic manner. Such note-taking has been linked to increased engagement, more generative learning, and greater self-efficacy. Of note, this is not providing students with notes, or sharing them, but the student actually learning the skills of note-taking.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 6
  • Number of studies: 155
  • Number of students: 6,476
  • Number of effects: 266
  • Effect size: 0.51

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author First Author's Country Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Australian Journal of Education Purdie & Hattie Australia The Relationship between Study Skills and Learning Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis 1999 Note taking 40 0 40 0.44
Unpublished Conference Paper Henk & Stahl USA A meta-analysis of the effect of notetaking on learning from lecture 1985 Note taking 21 0 25 0.34
Contemporary Educational Psychology Kobayashi Japan What limits the encoding effect of note-taking?: a meta-analytic examination 2005 Effects of note taking 57 0 131 0.22
Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness Reed, Rimel, & Halet USA Note-taking interventions for college students: A synthesis and meta-analysis of the literature 2016 Note taking 10 1,801 28 0.54
International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Larwin & Larwin USA The impact of guided notes on post-secondary student achievement: A meta-analysis.  2013 Guided notes 12 1,529 27 0.55
Educational Psychology Review Larwin, Gorman & Larwin Assessing the Impact of Testing Aids on Post-Secondary Student Performance: A Meta-Analytic Investigation. 2013 Testing aids (notes, crib sheets, text books) 15 3,146 15 0.99
TOTAL/AVERAGE 155 6,476 266 0.51

Confidence

The Confidence is the average of these four measures, each divided into five approximately equal groups and assigned a value from 1 to 5 based on the following criteria:

  • Number of Meta-analyses
    • 1 = 1
    • 2 = 2–3
    • 3 = 4–6
    • 4 = 7–9
    • 5 = 10+
  • Number of Studies
    • 1 = 1–10
    • 2 = 11–50
    • 3 = 51–200
    • 4 = 201–400
    • 5 = 400+
  • Number of Students
    • 1 = 1–2,500
    • 2 = 2,501–10,000
    • 3 = 10,000–20,000
    • 4 = 20,000–100,000
    • 5 = 100,001+
  • Number of Effects
    • 1 = 1–100
    • 2 = 101–300
    • 3 = 301–600
    • 4 = 601–1,200
    • 5 = 1,200+
Confidences
Number of Meta-Analyses Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Overall Confidence
Confidence Factor 3 3 2 2 3
Back to top